Saccharomyces cerevisiae is known for robust ethanolic fermentation of various pre-treated lignocellulosic feedstocks for renewable fuels production. The two main monomeric sugars released during pretreatment and enzymatic saccharification of these feedstocks are glucose and xylose. The S. cerevisiae strain D5A has previously been used to ferment pre-treated switchgrass, rice straw, distiller's grains, and lodgepole pine feedstocks and was found to be tolerant to hydrolyzate products present in pre-treated hardwoods and to butanol up to 1%. However, the native strain, like all wild type S. cerevisiae strains, is unable to utilize xylose as a carbon source.
Likewise, S. cerevisiae is not typically considered an oleaginous yeast. The classical definition of an oleaginous yeast is one that accumulates greater than 20% dry cell weight (dcw) as lipids. S. cerevisiae is not known as being oleaginous, typically only accumulating 10-15% of its dry cell weight as lipids, whereas oleaginous yeasts may accumulate 25% to greater than 60% lipids dcw.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.